It may be spring break, but on Monday and Tuesday school was in session for thousands of students who opted to attend the second offering of Los Angeles Unified School District’s “acceleration days.”
These bonus school days were originally envisioned by LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho as a means to uplift students who fell behind during the pandemic. But this week’s two voluntary extra learning days were even more important, given the recent three-day school shutdown due to the union strike.
The extra school days provide students with targeted learning support, assignment do-overs and enrichment activities such as art workshops and hands-on science labs.
The first set of acceleration days took place on Dec. 19 and 20 during LAUSD’s winter break and attracted about 40,000 students of the district’s 420,000.
The district tried to boost student attendance this time around by advertising the extra days via webinars, school site events and videos — and by sending personal invitations to high-needs students. The district also ramped up the number of enrichment activities in an effort to attract more students.
No data was available on the registration or attendance numbers for this week’s acceleration days.
“Any and all of our students could really benefit from additional learning time,” said Dr. Karla Estrada, deputy superintendent of instruction, in a recent interview. “Our intention is really to personalize that support, so you will see definitely small group instruction … and in some cases you’ll see one-to-one intervention and support, targeting certain skill sets that we know that the student would benefit from.”
Carvalho spent the two days visiting classrooms and even helped teach a lesson or two.
Starting off Day 1 of Acceleration Days at Harry Bridges SPAN School and addressing learning loss with small class-ratios and personalized instruction for students who need it the most. A pleasure to teach with Ms. Alvarez on rain, clouds and the water cycle. #IBelieveInLAUSD pic.twitter.com/QpJmnt75oC
— Alberto M. Carvalho (@LAUSDSup) April 3, 2023
Carvalho has said he would like to continue hosting acceleration days as part of the district’s strategy for reversing the approximate five years of academic gains that were lost during the pandemic.
However, no acceleration days are included on the recently-approved and controversial 2023 to 2026 academic calendars which must first be negotiated and agreed upon by the district’s unions.